The impact of an anesthesia residency teaching service on anesthesia-controlled time and postsurgical patient outcomes: a retrospective observational study on 15,084 surgical cases.

BACKGROUND: Limited data exists regarding the impact of anesthesia residents on operating room efficiency and patient safety outcomes. This investigation hypothesized that supervised anesthesiology residents do not increase anesthesia-controlled or prolonged extubation times compared to supervised certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA)/certified anesthesiologist assistants (CAA) or anesthesiologists working independently. Secondary objectives included differences in critical outcomes such as intraoperative hypotension, cardiac and pulmonary complications, acute kidney injury, and mortality.

METHODS: This retrospective single-center 24-month (January 1, 2020- December 31, 2021) cohort focused on primary outcomes of anesthesia-controlled times and prolonged extubation (>15 min) with additional assessment of secondary patient outcomes in adult patients having general anesthesia with an endotracheal tube or laryngeal mask airway for elective non-cardiac surgery. The study excluded sedation, obstetric, endoscopic, ophthalmology, and non-operating room procedures. Procedures were divided into three groups: anesthesiologists working solo, anesthesiologists supervising residents, or anesthesiologists supervising CRNA/CAAs. After univariate analysis, multivariable models were constructed to control for the univariate cofactor differences in the primary and secondary outcomes.

RESULTS: A total of 15,084 surgical cases met the inclusion criteria for this study for the three different care models: solo anesthesiologists (1,204 cases), anesthesiologist/resident pairing (3,146 cases), and anesthesiologist/CRNA/CAA (14,040 cases). Before multivariate analysis, the resident group exhibited longer anesthesia-controlled times (median, [interquartile range], 26.1 [21.7-32.0], p < 0.001), compared to CRNA/CAA (23.9 [19.7-29.5]), and attending-only surgical cases (21.0 [17.9-25.4]). After adjusting for covariates in a general linear regression model (age, BMI, ASA classification, comorbidities, arterial line insertion, surgical service, and surgical location), there were no significant differences in the anesthesia-controlled times between the provider groups. Prolonged extubation times (>15 min) were significantly less common in the anesthesiologist-only group compared to the other groups (p < 0.001). Despite these time differences, there were no clinically significant differences among the groups in postoperative pulmonary or cardiac complications, renal impairment, or the 30-day mortality rate of patients.

CONCLUSION: Anesthesia residents do not increase anesthesia-controlled operating room times or adversely affect clinically relevant patient outcomes compared to anesthesiologists working independently or supervising certified registered nurse anesthetists or certified anesthesiologist assistants.